Source: BET suspends producer after Blue Ivy joke

Mesfin Fekadu Associated Press

Posted:
08/27/2014 11:34:17 AM MDT

Updated:
08/27/2014 02:43:31 PM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

FILE - In this Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014 file photo, Beyonce on stage hugs Jay Z and their daughter Blue Ivy as she accepts the Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum, in Inglewood, Calif. BET has suspended a producer after a joke about Blue Ivy?s hair aired Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, on the network?s music video countdown show, ?106 &amp; Park.? A source at the network, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss the matter publicly, said the producer was suspended after the ill-fitting joke about Beyonce and Jay Z?s two-year-old daughter aired. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

NEW YORK (AP) — BET has suspended a producer after a joke about Beyonce and Jay Z's daughter that aired Monday on the network's music video countdown show, "106 & Park."

A source at BET, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss the matter publicly, said the producer was suspended after a remark about 2-year-old Blue Ivy's hair.

On Monday's show during a segment about Blue Ivy's hypothetical thoughts during Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, guest host Karrueche Tran said: "I really did wake up like this, because my parents never comb my hair." Blue Ivy joined her mother onstage at the VMAs.

Stephen Hill, BET's president of music programming and specials, publicly apologized on Twitter.

"Last night on 106 & Park there was a stupid, unthoughtful joke made about a young child," Hill tweeted.

Hill also said the network privately apologized to Beyonce and Jay Z.

BET didn't return an email seeking comment Wednesday.

Tran, who has dated singer Chris Brown, tweeted Tuesday that she did not write the joke. She wrote: "Now y'all know I LOVE me some Beyonce and Blue Ivy!"

Hill also tweeted that it was not Tran's fault.

"We also apologize to her for putting her in that position," he wrote.

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